Experts have been declaring for years that smoking is just not good for your health.  It has been shown that it can be most detrimental to women.  If you add oral contraceptives (the pill) into the mix, the result can be a health disaster just waiting to happen.

There has been some research into the possibility that smoking actually decreases the effectiveness of the birth control pill.  Basically, the smoking causes a breakdown of the estrogen.  Lower estrogen levels defeat the purpose of the hormonal contraceptives, which rely on INCREASING estrogen levels to fool the body into thinking it is already pregnant.  Probably because of these decreased hormone levels, women who smoke while on the pill often experience more breakthrough bleeding (bleeding at times other than when the period is expected) than other women on the pill.

Not only can smoking decrease the effectiveness of the oral contraceptive (the pill) but it has also shown that it increases the risk of heart attack by up to thirty times.  Although today's pills have lower doses of hormones, the risk of a heart attack still increases in women who smoke and also take the pill.

Experts have also found that smoking will increase the possibilities of other complications for women taking the pill.  Women who smoke while taking the pill are more likely to suffer from blood clots, high blood pressure or even diabetes.

Smoking is not the only hazard for women taking birth control pills.  Nicotine gum and the nicotine patch products are also dangerous for women on the pill (although the risks are lower than with actual smoking).  It is best to break the habit completely before turning to oral contraceptives for your birth control methods. 

The more that a women smokes and the older that she gets, the more dangerous the combination of birth control and smoking becomes.  Many doctors or gynecologists will refuse to prescribe birth control pills to women over thirty-five who smoke because the documented risks are so high. 

While the risks of complications are smaller in younger women, the risks are still present.  Smoking in combination with birth control pills can reduce the effectiveness of the birth control and cause potentially life-threatening complications in the health of the woman.  All birth control pills carry a warning that they should not be taken if the woman is a smoker.

The risk of cardiovascular side effects is greatly increased in women who smoke while taking birth control pills.  It can also increase heart attacks, blood clots, strokes, liver cancer and even gallbladder disease (although the risk is small for women who don't already have underlying factors).  The best way to ensure your safety is to stop smoking completely before starting on a regimen of birth control pills.